Oxford Inox heated vest and gloves
Tested by: Mikko Nieminen // RRP: Vest £149.99, gloves £149.99 // Sizes: Vest XS-3XL, gloves XS-2XL // Colours: Black // Info: www.oxprod.co.uk Call me a wuss, but I reckon nothing prepares you for winter on the bike like quality heated clothing. The heated vest and gloves from Oxford add a touch of luxury to riding in the bleakest time of the year.
Both the vest and the gloves have what Oxford calls the Inox Flex Heat System, which means woven stainless steel heat pads that are soft and flexible so they don’t cause discomfort. The vest has large heat pads in between the inner mesh lining and outer soft shell fabric to keep the chest, back and neck warm.
Heating is powered by the bike's battery rather than a separate rechargeable battery, which has the benefit of offering more warmth for longer. You can still use the heated gear off the bike, but obviously not with the heat switched on. The only thing to remember is to unplug yourself from the bike before you walk away (I nearly snapped the leads a couple of times forgetting to do that, but they survived my mistake quite admirably).
Both items come with all the necessary cables and connections to wire them directly to the bike’s battery terminals – and connecting it is easy (even for nontechnical folk like me). Once the battery connection has been made you can plug them into the connection leads and off you go. Both items have their own connections so they work individually or together.
The vest has an inline heat controller that lets you choose from four heat levels. The gloves have large power buttons on each hand that control heating (three levels) individually, so if you want, you can even have different settings for each hand.
The gloves are made from leather and PU-backed nylon and they are waterproof and insulated so they can be used as winter gloves even without the power supply. It’s not been quite cold enough recently to see how these items work in extreme conditions, but they have certainly made my commute very pleasant.